Where would you stay for 10–12 days? Looking for ‘Anguilla meets Costa Rica'
Looking for some advice from St. Lucia experts for a May 2027 college graduation trip.
We love full days on the beach, but also love to explore. For our youngest daughter's graduation, she basically described her ideal trip as "Anguilla meets Costa Rica" — beautiful beaches and downtime, but also lush scenery, hiking, waterfalls, mountains, and adventures.
There will be four of us....my wife and me plus our two daughters in their early 20s. We've traveled quite a bit in the Caribbean and especially loved Anguilla (Carimar) and Turks & Caicos (Ocean Club West). We don't need a fancy resort or room since we spend very little time there. Location and experience matter much more to us.
Soufrière seems like the obvious fit for the Pitons, rainforest, waterfalls, and hiking. We've been looking at Stonefield, Anse Chastanet, Green Fig and a few others, mostly because those seem to be the names that keep coming up.
We originally thought we needed to be beachfront, but that's really not a requirement. We'd be perfectly happy staying up in the hills with an amazing view and heading to different beaches when we want a beach day. In fact, that might give us more of the experience we're looking for.
We're also not really all-inclusive people. We like getting out, finding local restaurants and exploring, so Sandals/Secrets-type resorts aren't really our thing. A smaller hotel, villa, or Airbnb is completely fine. We're open to splitting 10–12 days between two areas if it makes sense, but would rather not move just for the sake of moving.
Based on what we're looking for, where would you stay? Is there somewhere I'm completely missing? (Bonus points if we can book using Chase UR points)
(Photos from some of our previous trips for the vibe we're chasing.)